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To millions of devoted fans, Sarah Michelle Gellar is and always will be Buffy Summers, the heroic teenager who fought to save the world from supernatural forces of darkness. Eight years after Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended, Gellar, now 34 and a new mom, returns to the small screen in roles that are anything but heroic. In fact, some may argue that the two women she plays would be more at home with those wicked forces of darkness. In Ringer, debuting at 8 p.m. Tuesday on The CW, Gellar portrays twin sisters — both troubled, both morally questionable and highly duplicitous.

Bridget, a former stripper and recovering addict, is on the run after witnessing a mob hit. She's hoping to hide from both the killer who wants her dead and the FBI agent who needs her in court by assuming the identity of her wealthy identical twin sister, Siobhan. But it doesn't take long for Bridget to discover that the seemingly idyllic life of her sister, who has mysteriously vanished during a boat outing, is even more messed up than her own. The pilot is full of story twists marked by deceit, infidelity and possible murder. Still, can Gellar — one of a number of stars returning to TV this fall in roles different from the ones that made them famous — succeed at pulling off a second TV act? Only time will tell. So far, as Gellar acknowledged in a recent press session, she has good writing, strong costars (including handsome Ioan Gruffudd, who plays Siobhan's husband), a fabulous wardrobe and lots of technology on her side.

She raved that the latter is so much better than what was available during her Buffy days.

For instance, she also played multiple characters at the end of Buffy, but it "was just old-school split screen," she said. "You stand there, and we split the screen. There's so much more that's available now between face replacement and the stop-motion cameras."

Gellar is more than ready to tackle the day-to-day demands of television again.

"I was very burned out after Buffy," she said. "It was exhausting. I never had time. ... That show was my life. I was doing movies on the hiatuses, weekends, you know, and I sort of needed to explore and live that Gypsy lifestyle, and I worked with amazing actors: Andy Garcia, Alec Baldwin, Brendan Fraser."

However, after delivering a few bigscreen hits such as Cruel Intentions and The Grudge, Gellar realized that television actually was her light at the end of the tunnel.

"I started to realize that all of the amazing roles for women were on television," she said. "I was spoiled by Buffy, because I thought that's the way it was everywhere, and it's not." Once she had her daughter, she knew more than ever that she "was done living the romantic lifestyle."

"I want to be home," she said. "I want to put her to bed and get up with her in the morning, and I want to be there for her first day of school.

And nothing offers that more than television."

It's more than just the practical side of series TV that has snared her, however.

"I didn't realize how much I missed it, how much I missed the excitement of getting the new episode and doing something different," she said.

"I think if I hadn't had the time away, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate the experience that I'm appreciating now."

Gellar also never stopped appreciating her steadfast fans. Though she veered away from the horror and fantasy genre that originally made her a cult favorite, Gellar said she sincerely tried to pick a new TV project that they would enjoy, too.

"I took into consideration who my fans are, because, let's be honest, I mean, we were a midseason replacement on The WB based on a failed movie, Buffy the Vampire

Slayer.

"If it wasn't for the outpouring of fans, and the journalists, too, supporting us, we would have been canceled after four episodes. And you think as an actor, sure you want to stretch and you want to do different things, but it's also our job to think about who our fans are and what they want to see, too."

It remains to be seen whether they indeed will follow her into this new adult world of dangerous humans, not monsters.

Judging by the deliciously addictive pilot and the skillful way Gellar handles her complicated roles, however, she just may make a whole new contingent of fans along the way.